Religious classes and schools face hard times in Central Europe, in the Visegrad Group, that is, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland.
Anti-religion-school rhetoric and changes have been met with criticism by Catholic bishops, teachers, and some media. Various restrictions, marginalization, and defunding threats come not only from progressives, but also from pragmatists, nationalists, and conservatives.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš suggested a few days ago that the Minister of Education “could explain to the citizens why we provide 20 billion (Czech) crowns a year to private schools, and why we give money to church schools.”
In his first term as prime minister in 2017, Mr. Babiš, a political pragmatist and ideologically flexible businessman, wrongly said that Czechia was “the only country in the world that funds private kindergartens, schools, high schools, and church schools.”
Last week, after criticism from schools, media, and a bishop, Andrej Babiš backpedaled, saying that “our goal is neither to abolish private or church schools nor to cut their funding” as we have them “because they are where the state was unable to fulfill its role in education.”
The current government is formed by Mr. Babiš’s pragmatist, right-leaning party, one nationalist party, and another liberal-conservative party, suggesting the Czech prime minister’s remarks were more a personal concern about the budget.
Yet his unexpected words resemble a “Make the Church Pay Again” approach to some. Before the communist takeover in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland after World War II, the church ran the backbone of education. This time, referring to “financial” equality, the price would not be persecution and takeover, but still financial and likely existential.
Church schools make up for insufficient demand in certain fields of study or the number of available places. If church schools were forced to close, the state may end up paying more for infrastructure and pupil allocation. Moreover, some church-run schools are among the best in the country.
In Hungary, on the other hand, Péter Magyar had promised changes to church schools before he won elections in April 2026 and became prime minister. Viktor Orbán’s former government had significantly supported churches and their schools for 16 years, which critics argued diminished their prophetic voice and independence. The announced reduction or restructuring of such arrangements would not be easy, yet it started unexpectedly.
The Minister of Education, Judit Lannert, stressed at the beginning of her mandate that religious schools should integrate more Roma students, which created a controversy. Yet some argue that the concentration of disadvantaged kids in some schools depends on parents’ choice and the composition of local communities, not on the church administration.
Thus, it is “wrong if the principal purpose of establishing a church school — or transferring a school to church management — is to create a school free of disadvantaged children,” the head of the Hungarian Bishops’ Conference, János Székely, told the Daily Caller.
Moreover, many institutions under church administration “operate effectively, so most analysts believe that a new government would likely not reclaim” them, but strike “a balance between funding” state and church institutions, journalist Zsuzsanna Kukaj explained.
As Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran, and Reformed churches have regained control of their schools after communism, mainly under ex-Prime Minister Orbán, some may now return to state or local government. The state-to-church transfer occurred “at the request of many local governments,” the journalist said, stressing that reversing the process would be “legally very difficult” because of long-term contracts.
What is more, Mr. Magyar’s government is considered right-wing conservative, so some disliked that Judit Lannert was named a minister, as she used a rainbow-colored profile on social media in 2021, considers Orbán’s ban on LGBT propaganda in schools a “political” rather than a real issue, and said sex education is not solely the parents’ responsibility. There are other issues, like a recent possible opening of the way for children to be adopted by single people and same-sex couples, which question the political orientation of the new government.
Meanwhile, in Poland, schools have reopened after summer, with religious classes reduced, scheduled before or after other school activities, mixed with other classes, and their grades removed from the grade point average.
Furthermore, the center-right — but on some issues progressive and pro-European Union — government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk introduced a compulsory subject: “health education”. The local episcopate warned about the changes a few times, and the Coalition to Save the Polish Schools criticized such “health education” for its allegedly “anti-family and gender-ideology character.”
Lastly, a major school reform was passed in 2025 in Slovakia, “for a more just financing,” to the detriment of private and church schools, though later concessions were allowed for smaller schools. In this case, local bishops also challenged the changes and remained “fundamentally in conflict with the amendment to the School Act in the form in which it was submitted to the Parliament.” The effect on private and church schools “will be discriminatory and unfair,” ex-minister of education and ex-principal of a Catholic school Ján Horecký warned.
The left-wing nationalist government led by former communist-turned-Social Democrat Prime Minister Róbert Fico passed the bill; unlike most social democrats in Western Europe, it usually opposes progressive agendas not just in education, but in general.
Therefore, the limitations of religious classes and schools take various forms in Central Europe, for a variety of reasons. They come not only from progressives, as one might expect, but also from pragmatists, nationalists, and conservatives who, through their own prerogatives, seek ideological control.
They invoke independence, budget constraints, and equal financing. However, the reduction of the school offer, diversity, and an increase in state expenditure may come if some schools close in the nations that have historically been so religious, with Slovakia and Poland still being majority Catholic, and possibly also Hungary, as the real number of believers there is hard to determine.
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